When You're Gone
by Ghosts of the Past
Summary: "You will always have me. You always did. Since that night in Ba Sing Se." - Zuko.


**So this is my first time in ATLA. I hope you like this. The prompt for this one-shot is based off of a picture that I found when I was surfing the web. I hope you enjoy the story. Sorry if there is any spelling mistakes or anything of that nature.  
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**Cover photo credits to ** art/Family-50897368** or go to deviantart and look up darkelf19. The photo is called "Family".  
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**If I can I will try and have a link up on my page for the picture. Enjoy.**

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><p><strong>Third P.O.V<strong>

A darken figure created a long shadow on the marble floor of the temple they tried to enter. The sounds in the distant came from city streets. People were celebrating their Fire Lord's birthday. There was fireworks and music, people laughing and enjoying the celebration. Except for the dark figure standing at the temple's doorway.

The figure made its way down the middle aisle, towards the alter with a portrait of their Fire Lord above it. As the figure came closer to the portrait their features became clearer. The figure was a woman with tanned skin and the bluest eyes any one had ever seen. Her hair was long and pulled away from her face, though a few strand escaped from their firm holding.

She wore a long traditional red and black fire nation robes. She looked up at the portrait. She glared at the large picture of the Fire Lord.

"Why?" She said out loud. Her eyes started to form tears even though she tried her best to push them back. "I hate you." She said. Tears were slowly starting to stream down her face and fall to the ground. Her left hand was placed over her heart.

"I hate you. I hate you." She shouted out. It was loud enough to alert the Fire Sages that someone was in the temple. They quickly walked out of the side room to look at who was there.

"Your Majesty?" A Sage spoke out. They slowly walked towards the woman. They were unsure of what to do with the clearly distraught woman.

"Leave me!" She screams out. The Sages back away from the woman. They were either to scared of the Fire Lady or they were respecting the Fire Lady's wishes to be left alone.

"I told you, and yet you were foolish enough to go to war with them. I should have been there. I could have healed you sooner than those stupid war medic amateurs. Why didn't you listen to me?! You never listened to me. Why?!" The woman screams at the portrait. She looks up at the portrait and walks closer to the altar. She places her hands on the altar cloth, curls her hands into fists and yanks the cloth off the altar. All the objects, the candles, the incenses, the offerings, everything fell to the floor with a resounding crash. The crash echoed throughout the temple.

The woman looked up and glared with frustration and anger in her eyes. She hated feeling this way. "You promised me!" The woman shouts out, her voice was breaking as she screamed with all her pent up anger and frustration. She was mad at him, at herself, at the people celebrating, at the world.

"You promised me you wouldn't die Zuko." The woman whispers out, now kneeling in front of the altar, her hands still the altar table.

"You lied. You left me; you said you never would. Why did you lie to me? I hate you…." A moment of silence passed. "I hate that miss you." The woman whispers out. Her tears, the ones she's been holding back for so long, start falling from her eyes. She felt her heart breaking all over again. Her heart was dead; it had been for a while.

"I never left you." A ghostly voice said. The woman looked up to the portrait of Zuko.

"Yes you did. You left me to raise Sheng and Jai Li by myself. You said you would always be here for me; for them." She said. Her tears were rivers down her face. The pain she felt was clear as the rivers that fell and the silence that the temple was surrounded in.

"Where are you now?" The woman questions. The ghostly voice soon appears with a body, a flickering image of Fire Lord Zuko. He places a hand on her shoulder. She picks her head up but doesn't turn around, afraid that if she does he will be gone.

"I have always been with you and I always will be. I'll always be in your heart." The flickering ghost of Zuko knelt down behind his distraught widow and wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

"Why did you have to die?" The woman wept out. Her heart was breaking, she either hated Zuko for what he did to her or she loved him for being the man she married. But it did nothing to heal the wounds that his death had inflicted on her. She had always put on a strong face for her children but when the anniversary of his death, birthday, or their wedding, came around she was a wreck.

"Agni and Kai had other plans for me but everything will be okay. Don't lose hope, don't lose your way. Our children need their mother." Zuko's ghost whispered in her ear. His words caused more tears to fall. She wanted to scream. His words were filled with peace and hope. The image of Zuko holding Sheng while she nursed Jai Li made her cry out in frustration.

They used to be so happy. Their world was perfect. She was a mother and a wife. She had a husband who loved her, a kingdom who adored her and a family to cherish with her whole heart. But her world was shattered when they got word of an uprising in the Earth Kingdom. As the New Fire Lord, it was Zuko duty to help aide the Earth Kingdom. Zuko promised his wife that he would meet up with Avatar Aang settle the matters and be home within the month.

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><p><em>"I promise you. I'll be home before the month is over. The uprising is a small thing, nothing you need worry about love." Fire Lord Zuko said as he finished packing a small travel bag. His wife sat by the twins crib and shook her head. <em>

_ "Zuko, I don't believe that the uprising in the Earth Kingdom is such a small things. I've heard what Ambassador Toph has said about it and it defiantly doesn't sound like a small thing. Let me come with you." His wife says as she placed Sheng back in the crib and walks over to her husband. She wraps her arms around his waist and rests her cheek on his back. Fire Lord Zuko sighs and places a hand on top of his wife's._

_ "Love it's a small thing. I'll be fine." Fire Lord Zuko says, trying to comfort his worrying wife. He turns around in her arms and places a kiss on top of her head. _

_ "You need to stop worrying, it's not good for you health. Please?" He asks of her. She pouts for a second before giving up and rolls her eyes as she walks over to the bed._

_ "Besides its not good if you leave the children." Fire Lord Zuko says softly. He's still trying to convince his wife otherwise. _

_ "Why are you so against me going with you to Earth Kingdom? If it is not as bad as you think than it should be safe for me to go." His wife persists. Fire Lord Zuko huffs out. He started an argument he knew he was never going to win. In truth, the uprising was as bad as Ambassador Toph described it but he didn't want to worry his wife who was still easing into the role of Mother and Fire Lady. _

_ "I don't want to take any chances. If anything bad should happen, the children will still have their mother." His wife turns to look at him when he says this. _

_ "Don't you dare think like that. You will come back I know. You cannot leave me that easily." His wife teases, though there is noticeable tension in her voice when she says this. She doesn't want to even think about the possibility of losing her husband. _

_ Fire Lord Zuko nods his head. "I don't plan on leaving you without your permission." Fire Lord Zuko teases back. He walks over to his wife and sits on the opposite side of the bed, he's side. He takes her hands and looks her in the eyes. _

_ "I promise you, I will never leave you or our children. I will come back alive and I will be okay." His wife casts her eyes down to the silk covers of their bed before biting her lip and look back at her husband. _

_ "Very well. I will keep you to your promise Fire Lord Zuko." His wife has a playful smile on her lips and he can't help himself but to lean down and give her a kiss. She doesn't resist or push away. She leans in and kisses her husband back with more passion than he first gave her. _

_ "I love you Zuko." She says once she pulls away. He smiles at her, his wife, his life partner, his other half, his lover, his friend. The love of his life and her, the love of her life. They complete each other. Without one the other has a hard time of living. They balance each other out._

_ "I love you more, my little moon." He says leaning down to kiss her again._

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><p><em> Two weeks had passed and the Fire Lady had hardly received any word from her husband and it was starting to worry her. But her husband's Uncle told her not to worry; Fire Lord Zuko would be home soon like he promised her. <em>

_ A day later they received word from Avatar Aang that he would be accompanying Fire Lord Zuko home. The Fire Lady thought nothing of it at first until she was told that Avatar Aang was accompanying her husband's body home. _

_ She didn't believe the messenger at first and then screamed at him to leave her when he insisted that it was true. Fire Lord Zuko was dead. _

_ "It can't be. It's not true Uncle. Zuko can't be dead. He promised me. He promised he wouldn't die, that he would come back to me alive and well." The Fire Lady said. The former General bowed his head. He too couldn't believe the news but accepted it a bit easier then the Fire Lord's wife. _

_ "My dear, everyone has their time. As unfortunate at the situation might be we must accept it. I know-" The Fire Lady screamed out loud. Nearly scaring the wits out of the old man. _

_ "Don't you dare tell me to accept it. I don't care if he was your nephew. He is my Husband. The Father of my Children." The Fire Lady screams out. The elderly man held his tongue. He could see it, clear in her eyes that she needed to vent out her anger and hurt. _

_ Angry tears started falling. Soon the Fire Lady couldn't stand on her own and fell into the embrace of the former General. Her heart was dying. She felt the unmistakable pain in her heart. Her heart was dying, for what she thought, for good._

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><p>The woman's tears still flow though they have slowed down slightly.<p>

"It hurts so much, even after all this time. I don't know how I can stand it much longer?" Zuko's ghost smiles, which she feels against her hair.

"I know you can do it. The Katara I married is not a quitter. The children need their mother to protect them, to love them, to teach them right from wrong. If you weren't there for them, well I'd be worried of the things Uncle would teach them. They need you Katara and I need you to stay with them. Please?" Zuko's ghost tells her. The woman, Fire Lady Katara, almost shouts out 'No'.

"But I need you too." She weeps out. Her head hangs down, tears hitting the marble floors. She tries to repress her stream of teats but it is no use; they have fallen and continue to fall as to let go of her hurt and pain in the form of clear salty rivers down her face.

"You will always have me. You always did. Since that night in Ba Sing Se." Zuko's ghost says before standing up and leaving the presence of his grieving widow.

Fire Lady Katara is left alone in the darken temple, her tears slowly subsiding to result in a silent cry before hearing footsteps walking up behind her. She quickly wipes away the remaining tears, though her eyes are still red from shedding them all, and looks over her shoulder. What she saw filled her heart with love and hope. She knew that Zuko was right. As much as she misses him she couldn't leave behind their children. She could let that happen.

She would still be angry with Agni and Kai for taking away her husband, a father and friend. But she couldn't do anything about it so she would have to settle for her husband living on in their two children, Sheng and Jai Li. And that brought a smile to her face.

"Mommy," A young boy's voice says timidly. Fire Lady Katara motions for her son and daughter to come to her. They run down the aisle and into their mother's waiting arms.

"Why are you crying Mommy?" Her daughter asks. Fire Lady Katara shakes her head and kisses both of her children on their head.

"Are you okay Mommy?" Her son asks. Fire Lady Katara nods her head.

"I just miss you father, that's all. But I want to let you know that he loves you both very much. And he's very sorry that he can't be here but he's watching over you with Agni and Kai and Tui and La." Fire Lady Katara says as she slowly stands up and takes her young children by the hand. She looks up at the portrait, the same one she was claiming to hate, and smiles softly.

"Thank you Zuko. I know you will always be with me and the children now." Fire Lady Katara says before taking her children and leading them out of the Temple. The celebrations were over; everyone was in their beds sleeping. For the Fire Lady her heart and mind were now at peace, resting happily knowing that somewhere close by Zuko was watching over them.

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><p><strong>So that's the end of the story I hope you like it. I was really nervous about doing this because I've never written for 1 ATLA and 2 used a picture as my prompt. Please don't forget to leave a review.<strong>


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